Abstract and out of focus...

I ordered several canvases a few weeks ago. It was an incredibly fantastic deal and I was eager about having ten assorted canvases delivered to my door. As it was, they arrived and one of the boxes was damaged.Upon opening it I discovered that two of the canvases had been damaged as well. One had a puncture in it whilst the other has a small hole along the side. Nothing too major, but definitely worth ringing the company up about. They were hugely accommodating, even offering to hold off on delivering replacement canvases until the following week when I knew I'd be home to exchange the damaged ones.

In the end I didn't have to return the damaged ones. The delivery guy told me he wasn't doing a pick-up, handed off a fresh box, turned and left. I quickly opened the new ones, which had been packed with extra care to avoid the same damage happening this time around. I took them upstairs to add to my stash, pure potential sat in the corner.

Then it was a question of what to do with the other two canvases. They weren't useless. The damage was actually so minimal on one that it could be recovered enough as is. I considered taking the torn one and re-stretching it on a smaller frame. I was discussing this with my partner, who suggested I just use it as is see where the torn canvas takes me art.

A brilliant idea, if you ask me.

The result is slowly unfolding. Each time I pick up a brush and work on it I feel almost as if there is no thought to my actions. I just do and the growing colours and pattern laves m feeling satisfied. No picture to share for this one. I'm just going to let it reveal itself in time.

Things are happening...and another Mighty Woman

Ten canvases arrived yesterday! Five of my standard 24X36 for my Tarot Cards and five of a smaller size, for a secret project I hope to start this weekend.

I also got new business cards.

About a year ago I made some fabulous business cards using photo paper and Microsoft Word. The idea was to have ten images of the work I do accompanied by my contact details. They were hugely popular and served me well. But as the last one went off in the hands of another fan, I knew it was time to get a new set with a different focus.

As my psychologist has been saying since I started living life as an artist: I need to specialise.

Well, my specialty is acrylic paint, most certainly. My three choice surfaces are canvas, canvas shoes or plaster cast masks I sculpt myself. My cards needed to reflect this but also needed to have all those fabulous details like my Facebook fan page, twitter account, blog and website, along with my email and name, of course.

Essentially it came down to needing two-sided cards...something I could produce myself but would be a lot less labour intensive to have someone else do. I searched around a bit and found that Moo was the best option.

Gotta say, hugely impressed with the result. It's lovely having a miniature portfolio in my pocket. I have yet to give out my first one but I'm going to the Science Museum of London tonight so we shall see who I meet. I also have plans of popping round to the National Portrait Gallery on Friday evening for their drop-in sketch class hosted by an artist. I'll have plenty of chances to network.

And speaking of sketches, here's 0ne of Kiki Smith:

Kiki Smith works in a variety of mediums, including fibre, screen printing, painting and sculpture. I can't say I'm entirely pleased with my sketch of her. The shadow in the photo I used was off-putting, but it was still fun to research her and get to know yet another hugely influential, strong woman that has contributed to shaping our world. I would like to explore her work further, especially as she plays with the strong connection between humans and animals. Being in London and with so many galleries at my fingertips, I'm sure I can track something of hers down.

The Library!

So I stumbled across the most fantastic contest ever. Fantastic because it allows for full artistic creativity and it's being put on by the library so the focus is books.

The requirement?

Create an original piece of art in any medium that celebrates literature, books or the library.

Seriously!

So I set about painting about a month ago. I took a self portrait shot and did my first ever attempt at painting my Wolfy-Self-Portrait. It was really very fun as I prefer to do fur with pencil crayon, but the end result with acrylic wasn't half bad. I'm excited to submit it and really don't care whether or not I win because the experience itself was fantastic and something new for me so either way I've grown as an artist.

I'm in Edmonton currently but plan to take it in when I get back to Calgary on Thursday.

I'm submitting it to be included in the fundraising auction that will be held following the competition, so if anyone is interested in supporting the library and purchasing it, I'll keep info on the how/when/where here.

Tarot Cards con't

The World

Tarot Cards pt. 1

I got my first deck of Tarot cards from one of my best friends. The beautiful artwork of tarot had always inspired me and it was after I discovered my talent for doing large scale paintings that I thought I might try my hand at painting tarot cards that I could hang on my wall.

This piece is my latest one and my new re-attempt to begin the deck. I've done many card paintings int he past but I did them for someone else and I've decided to only do them for myself from now on. This is the High Priestess card, represented with my first cat cat, muse and companion, Gummitch. I brought her home when I was oen and she decided to stay. She was my first best friend and a great inspiration to me. She died at 21, a well loved and spoiled creature. This card represents knowledge, spirituality, the supernatural and self growth and discovery.

The pictures uploaded out of order but you can see the sketch and the progress of filling it in. It was a lot of fun to paint. I always do research into the various symbols represented on each card I paint. I chose to make the pillars twisted, gnarled trees instead of marble posts. The torah seems to be one of the symbols that cannot be lef tout of the card and I really liked balancing it's placement ont he canvas with the swirl of the rainbow. The moon was probably my favourite thing to paint as it's somethign i've wanted to do for a while now.

I'm currently working on The Fool and The World and the next oen i plan to do is the Lovers.

For Every One of Us